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Posts Tagged ‘West Virginia Governor’

As Hot Air walked through its top 50 viewed articles, it made me curious. What did the Truth Before Dishonor readers read in 2011? What were our hits?

After lying dormant for over a year, Truth Before Dishonor became active again at the very end of April, 2011… and came back stronger than ever, thanks in no small part to the stable of authors here, and to all the interested readers of course. So what did the visitors view in 2011?

9 Democrat Civil Rights History
An April 2009 article which is mostly (but not entirely) a reprint of an older article Bob Parks wrote putting paid to the lie that Democrats have led the charge on Civil Rights (they fought against Civil Rights every step of the way).

8 Robert L Hymers III Is In Deep Doodoo
Robert L Hymers III and Lenny Dykstra get themselves in deep legal troubles, but the intent of the article was to show the major cultish power the Hymers clan has and the intimidation the Hymers clan practices.

2 the Silver Medal goes to Rule 5 Political Style
A bevy of beautiful Conservative women and a couple ugly Liberals.

And the Grand Champion, the Number One, Gold Medal winning, most viewed article of 2011 is New York 9th District Election Results
In the aftermath of Anthony Weiner showing his sausage, all of America — and many across the world — wanted to know: would a Republican take the Wiener seat? After all, as DNC spokes-bimbo Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, the district that had been Democrat-held since the 1920s was an especially difficult district for Democrats to win. What?

The special election to fill Democrat Senator Joe Manchin’s unexpired term as West Virginia Governor was held today. The polls have closed and now comes the counting.

As of 7:58pm local time, the Associated Press has Democrat Acting Governor Tomblin leading 55 percent to Republican Mahoney’s 41 percent, with 6 of 1883 precincts reporting in.

As of 8:05pm local time, the Democrat holds a 60 percent to 37 percent lead. 33 of 1883 precincts reporting.

Early reporting of polling data suggested this race would end in a narrow single-digit victory. A Republican win would be considered an upset.

As of 8:09pm local time, the Democrat holds a 52 percent to 45 percent lead over the Republican. 53 of 1883 precincts reporting.

In the last weeks of the race, the Republican Governors Association pumped money into the race, running ads tying the Democrat to ObamaCare, noting the Democrat refused to sue the Federal Government as 26 other states did. The Republican promised to do just that, becoming the 27th state to sue. Polling data showed the advertising on this issue caused a major swing toward the Republican in the undecided voters.

As of 8:21pm local time, the Democrat leads 50 percent to 46 percent. 156 of 1883 precincts reporting.

West Virginia bucked the national trend in 2010 by maintaining a solid Democrat majority in the Legislature and voting for Democrat Joe Manchin to complete the late Senator Byrd’s (D) Senate term. This despite President Obama’s far below national average approval numbers in the Mountain State.

As of 8:27pm local time, Democrat Tomblin leads 53 percent to 44 percent with a 6,000 vote cushion. 310 precincts reporting.

As of 8:39pm local time, the Democrat leads 52 percent to 45 percent with an 8,000 vote margin. 583 of 1883 precincts reporting.

As of 8:42pm local time, the Democrat leads 51 percent to 45 percent with a 7,600 vote margin. 633 precincts reporting.

As of 8:51pm local time, the Democrat leads 50 percent to 47 percent with a 5,800 vote margin. 913 of 1883 precincts reporting.

West Virginia has not had a Republican Governor since Cecil H Underwood completed his term January 15, 2001.

As of 8:57pm local time, Tomblin, the Democrat leads 51 percent to 46 percent with an 8,600 vote margin. 1062 of 1883 precincts reporting.

As of 9:06pm local time, the AP has called it for Tomblin. The Democrat leads 50 percent to 46 percent with a 9,500 vote cushion. 1307 of 1883 precincts reporting. The 3 independent candidates, representing minor parties have so far combined for fewer than 8,000 votes.

As of 9:12pm local time, the Democrat leads 50 percent to 47 percent with a 7,800 vote cushion. 1396 of 1883 precincts reporting. The 3 independent candidates combined nearly cover the spread but fall short by a handful of votes.

As of 9:18pm local time, the Democrat leads 49 percent to 47 percent with a 6,000 vote margin. 1570 of 1883 precincts reporting.

As of 9:27pm local time, the Democrat leads 49 percent to 47 percent with a 6,000 vote margin. 1600 of 1883 precincts reporting.

As of 9:43pm local time, the Democrat leads 50 percent to 47 percent with a 7,400 vote gap. 1776 precincts reporting.

As of 9:52pm local time, the Democrat leads 50 percent to 47 percent. 1777 of 1883 precincts reporting. Scanning the County list for unreported precincts, they all appear to be in counties carried by the Democrat.

As of 10:04pm local time, the Democrat leads 50 percent to 47 percent with a 7,900 vote margin. 1807 of 1883 precincts reporting. The three lesser candidates have combined for 9,600 votes.

Polling during the race showed the race tightened very noticeably when the Republicans put on a late push to tie the Democrat to Obama and ObamaCare. In a state that has a 2 to 1 Democrat registration advantage, the late push to tie the Democrat to Obama made the race far tighter than it would’ve been otherwise. Had the Republicans focused on ObamaCare and the Democrat’s refusal to sue the Federal Government over the unconstitutionality of its implementation earlier than they had, the end results may have been different.

Hopefully, the Republicans see how much damage ObamaCare does to State-level Democrat candidates and starts the push earlier on in future races.

As of 10:13pm local time, the Democrat leads 50 percent to 47 percent. 1868 of 1883 precincts reporting.

Senator Joe Manchin (D – WV) should now know for certain his path to re-election in November, 2012 is by guaranteeing enough separation between himself and the Obama Administration that any attempt to tie him to Obama fails.

Like this:

Another day, another special election where the Republican ties Obama to the Democrat, dragging the Democrat down. This time it is in West Virginia, where the Republican is tying the Democrat to ObamaCare. And it has caused the undecided voters to swing heavily for the Republican. Both sides of the race have stated the Republican Governors Association ads tying the Democrat to implementation of ObamaCare have tightened up the race.

What should’ve been a standard issue Democrat win, with Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D) filling the unexpired term of former Governor Manchin (D), who the Mountain State sent to Washington, DC to fill the unexpired term of the late Senator Byrd (D) has now become a close race, all due to the Obama Factor. As Aaron Blake at the Washington Post notes, should Republican Bill Maloney win today, it will be an upset.

Democrats now expect the race to be decided by a margin in the low single-digits, while Republicans hold out hope that they can pull off what would be a pretty significant upset but say that have nothing to lose, given the state’s heavily Democratic — if conservative — tilt.

It would indeed be a significant upset because, even as Republicans made big gains elsewhere in 2010, West Virginia stuck by its Democratic roots and returned large Democratic majorities to its state legislature, along with sending Manchin to Washington, despite national Republicans’s best efforts to beat him. And gubernatorial races, which are often decided on state issues rather than national ones, are more insulated from the national winds.

What Republicans have done, though, is transformed the national issue that is Obama’s health care bill into a state one. And given Obama’s approval rating in the state — which has stood in the low-30s for some time — that could be a winning strategy.

Hot-button federal issues aren’t typically at the center of governor’s races. But in West Virginia, businessman Bill Maloney and national Republicans are tying acting Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to President Obama late in the race on the president’s signature health care plan. And the issue is likely to surface again in 2012’s most competitive governors’ races. In some places, it already has.

Unlike other issues that have roiled special elections this year — Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan, the debate over raising the federal debt ceiling — the states have a role to play in the ongoing battle over the health care law. Twenty-six have joined a legal challenge to the law, and the Republican Governors Association’s final ad in West Virginia focuses on Tomblin’s refusal to join the protest.

Maloney is spending the final stretch arguing that Tomblin’s inaction against Obama’s health care plan is a major reason voters should take a stand against him. “He said early on he didn’t like Obamacare, but now he seems to be okay with it,” Maloney said of Tomblin in an interview with National Journal after a Lincoln Day Dinner appearance in Harrisville. “I’m going to sue, and we’re going to be the 27th state to sue and try to get rid of Obamacare. He’s not going to do that. So that’s a stark difference right there.”

They go on to recite a list of other states where Democrat Governors are being tied to ObamaCare with good results — for the Republicans. It will definitely be an issue in the 2012 Governor, Senate, House, Presidential races, and it will definitely be a drag on all Democrats that are tied to it. Obama and ObamaCare will most certainly cost many Democrats elections.